The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Hydrangea plant, botanically known as Hydrangea macrophylla, commercially referred to as a mophead-type Hydrangea and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘HORE0031’.
The new Hydrangea plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Velp and Reeuwijk, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program was to create new compact and freely-branching Hydrangea plants with strong sturdy stems, large inflorescences with numerous attractive sterile flowers and good postproduction longevity.
The new Hydrangea plant originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in July, 2011 in Velp, The Netherlands, of a proprietary selection of Hydrangea macrophylla identified as code number 12-00-04, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with a proprietary selection of Hydrangea macrophylla identified as code number 12-00-73, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Hydrangea plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant from within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled greenhouse environment in Reeuwijk, The Netherlands in June, 2013.
Asexual reproduction of the new Hydrangea plant by vegetative tip cuttings in a controlled environment in Reeuwijk, The Netherlands since August, 2015 has shown that the unique features of this new Hydrangea plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.